Bike For Orphans

Friday, December 6, 2013

First Impressions of Tacloban

December 6th, 2013

First Impressions of
Tacloban

On December 5th, I was up at 4:00 am to get to the ferry in
Cebu. It is a 2.5-hour boat ride to Ormoc, a town about 100 km west of Tacloban
and a city also in the direct path of typhoon Yolanda. By the way, the
international name of the typhoon is Haiyan but the name in the Philippines is
Yolanda.

The first impression I had as the van made it’s way to Tacloban was the
incredible size of the path of destruction. The 100 km between Palo and
Tacloban looks like a war zone and it is easy to see the overwhelming
rebuilding job ahead. For one example, it has been almost exactly 1 month since
Yolanda made landfall and I wondered why there was still no electricity. The
answer was pretty obvious; I could count on one hand the amount of hydro poles
still standing in the entire trip between the cities. If you think hydro poles
are usually a few hundred meters apart you realize the extent of that one
problem. Then you look at the damage to the schools, hospitals and businesses
and also realize that I did not see a single home in the entire trip that was
completely spared from the wind or water. Here are a few photos from the van on
the road towards Tacloban.

Damage on the road to Tacloban

I was sitting beside a man that had a home in Palo, very close to
Tacloban and he told me some stories from his area. He told me about one man
carrying a child in each arm as he climbed the rafters of their home to escape
the rush of water. I saw an interview on CNN of the mayor of Tacloban who
managed to survive by punching a hole in his ceiling and waiting out the storm
clinging to the open air rafters of his roof while the water raged below,
covering the entire first floor of his home. The damage I saw certainly
confirmed that these stories were true. Here is a photo taken in Palo.

Damage in Palo

I thought I was well prepared for my first sights of Tacloban but
despite watching around the clock coverage on CNN I don’t think anyone can
really anticipate the sights and smells. It was hard to even figure out where
we were in the city with many of the landmarks gone. A noticeable silence fell
over the van as we inched along roads piled with debris and people walking
along the edges. I also noticed the lack of greenery.Any trees left standing were stripped bare
from the wind and the surrounding mountains looked like they just survived a
massive forest fire. There was also a distinct smell coming from the huge
mounds of debris still covering half the road in places. It is a smell composed
of smoke from the constant burning within the piles of garbage and of course
the possibility of composing bodies of humans and or animals.

Street in Tacloban

More damage in Tacloban

I had a hard time finding a hotel as the ones open were being used by
the various aid agencies. I tried a half dozen and ended up finding a room at
the Leyte Park Hotel. The front of the hotel has a generator but I am at the
back without electricity or water but I do have a roof and the property is
secure so that is all I really need. I got a few large jugs of water for my
bath and will have to throw water over my head prior to sleeping because of the
heat without a fan or an air-conditioner. The fact that I have a roof makes me
far better off most here.

I went out to one of the worst hit areas of Tacloban to see if my
friend Ruchelle was okay. She is in the City to see her brother and his family
and they live in the town of San Jose near the Tacloban airport. The area is a
narrow peninsula with water on both sides and is particularly exposed and
vulnerable to strong winds.

Ruchelle was born and raised in Tacloban and lived in the San Jose
area. Her mother, brother, sister in law and their children were in the home on
November 8th. Ruchelle was in Tacloban earlier in the month but was
applying for work in Taiwan so left on November 7th, the day before
the typhoon, to be with her sister in Cebu. Imagine her feeling when she sees
her street for the first time since she left.

Destruction in Tacloban

Prior to leaving she wanted to ensure her family would be safe with
the increasingly dire reports coming on the news about Yolanda. There was an
evacuation center set up in the local elementary school and Ruchelle made sure
her family were able to go on the 2nd floor of the school.

Here is a picture of the school with the 1st and 2nd
floors.

School of refuge

When the typhoon hit Tacloban, at approximately 4:00 am and lasting
until 11:00 am on Friday November 8th, the strongest winds ever
recorded slammed into the city with a direct hit. The small area of land where San
Jose is located between 2 bodies of water was directly in the path but the
subsequent storm surge created the most destruction. A surge of about 15 feet
completely covered the small area of land approximately 1 kilometer in width.
The water completely submerged an entire floor of the school. There were
numerous people including lots of children who took refuge only to drown when
the water rushed in. The people on the second floor were safe but could hear
the screams of frantic family members who were witnessing their relatives being
swept away or submerged by the rushing water.

This area had the highest death toll and many of the people were
actually taking refuge from the storm. One mistake made by the weather
forecasters was their failure to use the world Tsunami. The massive 2004
Tsunami in Indonesia, Thailand and a large area of Asia and the more recent one
in Japan have made a strong impact on people around the world. The use of the
word “storm surge” on the other hand has not and many people simply did not
understand the risk involved with the water. If they heard the word tsunami,
many said they would never have taken refuge is the buildings so close to the
water.

Here is a home in the same area as the school. I was told that water
was entering the windows of this house on the 2nd floor. Imagine
being in that home when the storm hit. The first reaction to the wind blowing
off the roof would be to escape down to the ground floor. Then you would be met
with raging water that is quickly rising so your only escape is to go back up
and hang on to the rafters with no roof above you and a driving rain.

Water was at level of 2nd floor windows

Ruchelle’s family survived the storm and she is extremely grateful
after a number of sleepless lights waiting for news. I met her family and saw
the rebuilding in progress. Here is the temporary shelter created after the
typhoon.

Ruchelle’s home

Here is a view from that home showing the impact of Yolanda.

View from Ruchelle’s home

The rebuilding efforts are going to take a long time and one of the
reasons is the issue of land ownership. In the area of San Jose, there are
sub-divisions of strong cement homes and those are typical of what we would be
used to with the homeowner owning both the land and building. They would be
owned by the relatively wealthy and their homes are strong and had far less
damage, although I have yet to see a single home unscathed.

The real problem is what to do with the other homes, including those
of Ruchelle’s family. The people in large areas here are squatters, building
their relatively flimsy homes on vacant land. Large communities of squatter
homes were destroyed and the government doesn’t want to face this potentially
recurring destruction over and over again so they have initiated a no-building
policy impacting thousands of families. The entire communities will be
relocated in government housing and large areas have been told they cannot even
have access to their homes. In the short-term they will be given tents and then
move into homes when they are built. I don't have a lot of confidence in that
program given the fact that homeless people are usually well down the priority
list of governments.

A similar situation is occurring nearby in the area I went to next to
try and find the families of a few kids I knew from my time at the orphanage. I
went there to locate Angelina and also the twin girls Angel and April. I have
been very worried about them and you can see why, here are a few pictures of
the area where their homes were located.

Angelina and the twins lived here

Area near the airport

I saw that and my heart sank. No one could have lived if they stayed
in their homes and after hearing about the problems at the shelters I began to
feel worse. I managed to find out that Angelina survived the storm and was
taken away to Cebu and is there now. I am trying to find where she is there and
will give her a call when I can but am grateful to hear she survived with her
family. I have not been able to locate the twins yet but will keep on looking.
You can see from the photo that they have prohibited any new building there so
there are hundreds of families that have lost everything except the clothes
they were wearing.

My next mission was to try and find Michael. Those of you following my
posts for the last few years will know that Michael was my special boy at the
orphanage and there are pictures of him here on an earlier posting. I had
visited him last Christmas and walked to the home where he lived with his
mother. His mother was working as a housemaid for a local family and she lived
with Michael and 4 siblings in a small home beside the mansion of the
homeowner. Here is a picture of that mansion today.

Home on Michael’s property

It shows that the rich and poor here suffered extensively. Here is a
current picture of the small concrete home where Michael lived last year.

Michaels house

I knocked on the door of the Mansion and a lady appeared. I introduced
myself and said I was looking for Michael. It turns out that the lady was
Michael’s aunt and she told me he survived and is living in another area of
town. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and the Aunt gave me a big hug and said
she knows all about me and how I am always looking out for her nephew.
Apparently Michael’s mother told her that I would probably come back to
Tacloban because I would be worried about Michael, ha ha ha.

There are numerous aid agencies here and I will try to meet with a few
of the workers to see the kind of work they are doing. The hotel where I am
staying is the headquarters of the Red Cross, both the Philippines and International
Branches. I have seen the fire-trucks and ambulances around town and they have
a very visible presence. I saw large tents being set up by the World Food
Program and signs for Oxfam so there are people from all over the world here to
help. It is nice to see such an international effort to help here.

I was sitting in the lobby of my hotel and heard a few volunteers talk
about the reports of out of control crime and looting in the immediate
aftermath of the typhoon, something I also heard on the news coverage but I
think it is unfair to focus on that. I’ve seen examples my whole life of
looting and riots after hockey or baseball teams win or lose championship
games. There are many examples of mayhem after a World Cup soccer game so
focusing on the same behavior when people have lost everything shouldn’t be
something that stands out. There are people everywhere in the world who take
advantage of tragic events and it is no different here than it was in New
Orleans after Katrina or Haiti after the earthquake. I can see the people here
and know the appreciation they have for those helping and the overwhelming
majority have no interest in taking advantage.

On Wednesday they found 120 bodies in the water under the big bridge
in town, all had drowned during the storm surge. There are still a lot of
people missing and the only hope is they can’t be reached because the
communications are down. While I was walking along the road a group of men were
clearing away some debris and on the road beside them was a body bag. One month
after the storm and they are still pulling bodies from the wreckage.

Tomorrow I am going to the Missionaries of Charity orphanage and will
write about what happened there shortly. I will be trying to post new pictures
everyday on my Flickr account and updates to this journal as often as I can.
There is a lot happening every day.